Law enforcement decked out in riot gear moved in on protestors rallying against the Dakota Access pipeline. (Photo: Amy Sisk/Prairie Public Broadcasting)

Gunshots rang out and fires raged as police and Dakota Access pipeline protestors violently clashed Thursday in North Dakota.

Law enforcement, decked out in riot gear, descended on a protest site occupying land owned by Energy Transfer Partners demanding that activists leave. After protestors refused to vacate the private property, the situation turned ugly as at least two protestors fired guns and several others hurled molotov cocktails at police.

One woman turned her .38 caliber pistol on officers, firing three shots and narrowly missing a sheriff’s deputy. In a separate incident, a protestor fired his gun and struck a man near “blackwater bridge” north of the main camp. The man suffered a gunshot wound to the hand, but was not seriously injured and was treated for his wound. Shooters in both altercations were taken into custody with no return fire from police. Officers instead turned to bean bags and pepper spray to subdue activists.

In all, 141 people were arrested during the nearly six-hour operation. According to a spokeswoman for the Morton County Sheriff’s Department, only minor injuries were sustained during the altercation.

Thousands have gathered since August to rally against the government’s use of the land tribes say is significant to Native American history.

“My nation’s history is at risk because the pipeline builders and the Army Corps failed to consult the tribe when planning the pipeline, and routed it through areas of cultural and historical significance, which will be destroyed,” said David Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, in a court filing against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

In addition to disturbing sacred Native American ground, environmental activists have raised issue that the pipeline will run through the only source of water for residents in the area.

Operations on private developer land has continued, though the State Department halted construction on land near Lake Oahe pending further review. In a letter dated Oct. 25, Republican governors in Iowa and the Dakotas urged the Army Corps of Engineers to resume operations at all sites immediately, despite pushback.

“The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has spent well over a year reviewing the permit and it is now time for the Corps of Engineers to proceed with the last step of the process so that our states can begin to realize the benefits and opportunities provided by this important and vital piece of energy infrastructure,” the letter reads. “It is our understanding that this project meets all of the established federal requirements necessary to move the project forward.”

Social media responds

As videos, pictures and posts of Thursday’s fight spread across the internet, social media activists took to their keyboards to juxtapose the treatment of pipeline protestors against that of the Oregon wildlife refuge stand-off, who happened to be acquitted the same day tensions in the Dakota Access protests boiled over.

“So let me get this correct,” Alicia Garza, founder of the Black Lives Matter social movement, posted on Facebook. “If you’re white, you can occupy federal property … and get found not guilty. No teargas, no tanks, no rubber bullets … If you’re indigenous and fighting to protect our earth, and the water we depend on to survive, you get tear gassed, media blackouts, tanks and all that.”

Robert Reich, former secretary of labor under President Clinton, also took to the social media outlet to lash out against the treatment of tribes.

“On the same day that a jury acquitted the Bundy brothers and their fellow protesters for taking over federal land in Oregon last January, police in North Dakota today used pepper spray gas and a painful high-pitched siren, and then arrested 117 Native Americans and others for protesting a private oil pipeline across land they say belongs to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe under a 19th-century treaty,” Reich wrote on Facebook. “In other words, it’s fine to mount an armed insurrection so your cattle can graze for free on federal land, but not if you want to protect your sacred burial ground or your only source of water from a private for-profit oil pipeline company.”

LE got shot at and fire bombed. That never happened at the “white event” so you can’t compare the the protests as equal. It is unsettling that attempted lethal force is directed at LE and they don’t respond equally. Probably too high a risk of collateral casualties.

What if Native Indians wanted Manhattan Island back because they now feel ripped off for selling it for the equivalent of $24? Can’t wait for Native Americans to start screaming for reparations like other minorities. We can’t rewrite history or blame the living for actions of the long dead. Some like to try.

Logan Waltz

So one was on public land and no deadly threat was presented. The other was on private land and multiple deadly threats were presented. Apples and broccoli. (Oranges aren’t different enough to compare)

freewheelinfranklin543

There was no violence or shooting at Malheur.

Guest

If pipelines “destroy the land” then there shouldn’t be any land left. Take a look at a map of current pipelines and tell me if one more pipeline is going to even be noticed.

Moss500

Minorities need causes to whine and cry over. If they don’t have one, they’ll invent one and try to build relevance around it.

freewheelinfranklin543

They turned down a $10 million offer,so the pipeline company bought private land and rerouted. It isn’t on the rez anymore.

Deplorable White Bear

“Shooters in both altercations were taken into custody with no return fire from police”.

And therein lies the problem. Whether it’s rural North Dakota or urban areas like Ferguson, Baltimore, etc.; anyone threatening police officers with deadly force or engaging in any violent felonies should be occupying body bags.

The Tribes are NOT using firearms. The DAPL employees infiltrating the site as Water Protectors are trying to incite violence with their firearms. The Tribes are very adamant to NOT use firearms. The media is LYING.

Gambler X

Protesting environmental destruction with petrol bombs by burning tires….no hypocrisy there at all.

freewheelinfranklin543

George Soros is funding their attorneys.A group called Earthjustice. Google them.
Quite a history.

Gambler X

If Soros is involved then stopping the pipeline benefits him financially.

I googled them and its creepy how many non-profits he funds….

freewheelinfranklin543

Black Lives Matter is there. He funds them. Amnesty International is coming. They too, get money from him

beekeeperp7

It sounds like, if the government wrote them a check in the beginning non of this BS would have happened.

freewheelinfranklin543

You got it. Earthjustice is suing for the tribe. It’s a money thing all the way around.

uncle bobedy

You guys. Isn’t it funny how silly you get about somethings and not about others. The Malheur boys get acquitted and the cheers go up, some Native Americans get shown the long arm of the law and you cheer for them to crack a few heads. Malheur takeover is okay, the need for water without heavy metals in it though, THAT’S not worth your time. Maybe they should just go to the local Walmart and buy the water they need?

This division we have transcends logic, to my mind, the gun community would be behind a group of people, born in this country, who are tired of violations of our right to live life as we see fit? Is it wrong to just want water that isn’t flammable? Malheur to my understanding was about the criminal overreach of the state against the people, these people are tired of being plugged by the state for over the last 100 years and have decided to again take a stand, yet they aren’t worth your time?

The rights of the citizenry are sacred, the ability of the state to violate those rights increases daily, yet, these people are not worth the effort to care about? I understand that petroleum based products are the life blood of civilization, I know that any interruption to that vital blood flow means civilization reverts to an 18th century standard of living, which ain’t good. So why is it when the rights of these people to not be poisoned, to not have their civil rights destroyed because they refuse to have them violated is inconsistent with the groupthink here?

There is this quiet quiet talk in the gun community of patriots, and resisting (democrat lead) federal overreach, and yet, in this instance, when a natural born citizen refuses to be terrorized by mercenaries, bitten by their dogs, sprayed in the face with irritants, and arrested by law enforcement working for corporations who have no plan to clean the water tables of America when their proprietary soup of toxic garbage releases into the earth, when they defend their persons as an act of patriotism against corrupted enforcers you all vanish. I still believe the American people have the unfettered duty to exercise their rights as they see fit in so far as that exercise is not violating the rights of others. Nothing changes that view and it is not movable.

Tell me, when the time comes, and you resist the state in a clear attempt to violate YOUR rights, and they write a story about how YOU precipitated your destruction by threatening the lives of private security or law enforcement officers, what will the groupthink say about you?

I’m not questioning your belief in the 2nd Amendment; I am asking that you step out for a minute from the ingrained idea that THESE people are anything but bad, that they are only interested in money, that they merely wish to take that which they do not own. If you choose, see that Maheur and the Dakota Access Pipeline confrontation are not mutually exclusive, but far closer than originally thought. The people of this nation need to be one, one voice against the dying corruption at the top, or we fall when it does. Try to see them as just as deserving of praise as the Bundy’s and the other patriots at Malheur.

freewheelinfranklin543

When their law firm is being financed by George Soros,when they have Black Lives Matter there also financed by George Soros and now Amnesty International also funded by Soros is coming,you have to wonder what George Soros’ financial interest in this whole thing is. He does have investments in the Energy industry.
They wanted the cattle leases from the ranchers out at Malheur because Hillary made a deal with a Russian Uranium Mining Company to develop a uranium mine out there. The place is a treasure trove of minerals,not just uranium. Wonder how much the Clinton Foundation got out of the deal? Yeah! It’s a lot more complicated. It’s all about money and Standing Rock after turning down $10 million wants their cut!

First the media doesn’t cover the story about DAPL. Now the media is NOT telling the nation the TRUTH about what is happening regarding DAPL (Reservation Land protected by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 and 1868 stolen by fraud of “eminent domain” laws and sold to a private corporation to sell the oil OVERSEAS). This violates Article V and Article VI protected by the Constitution for the United States.

During a peaceful water protectors prayers today, police in riot gear and using tanks, pepper spray, rubber bullets & bean bags, and sound & concussion cannons were used to move the Tribes people off their own land protect by the Fort Laramie Treaty.

Meanwhile, a DAPL worker shot at a 15 year old boy while riding his horse and KILLED THE HORSE!!! (It is his truck that was burned up.) Although he was arrested by the BIA police, it’s STILL NOT AN EXCUSE to kill another sentient Being. Another DAPL worker had infiltrated the camp and was posing as a water protector as a sniper with an AR-15. He was trying to escalate violence perceived as coming from the Tribes’ people. He was TRYING to instigate a massacre, but the Tribes security surrounded him so police could arrest him.

Where is the Justice? WHY is this happening at all? WHY are the police and national guard using force and arresting people from their own land? Land that was recently stolen from them under the fraud of “eminent domain” to transport oil from Canada through the USA and sell overseas. This is a violation of one of the worst kinds and the media is sitting SILENT on the Truth but spreading scripted lies.

freewheelinfranklin543

Earthjustice which is a law firm representing Standing Rock is funded by George Soros. The Reservation was offered 10 million for a pipeline right of way through the reservation.The Reservation turned them down. The pipeline company bought land from private landowners and rerouted the pipeline. The Reservation sued using Earthjustice which may eventually get more than 10 million out of the pipeline company. They have a lawsuit and violent demonstrations that are pretty much a form of extortion. This doesn’t have a damn thing to do with Treaties violated by the government. This is a money issue for both sides.
This is a leftwing scam.

Ebby123

*Citation needed please

Walter Hargain

Tap the pipe after it’s built. Claim the oil as tribal property. Sell it back for profit.

freewheelinfranklin543

They were offered $10 million for right of way and they turned it down. The pipeline company bought private land for the right of way. The lawfirm involved are funded by Soros and are pretty good at squeezing money out of big corporations.It’s a money thing for both sides!

Omer Woodruff

Man will continue to destroy the earth until one day man will make the earth uninhabitable for all life . Or nature itself will end our existence on earth . You can never sustain life when you only take from the land . Like sucking the liquid from man , man becomes but a wrinkled piece of collapsed skin and bone . So shall the earth as the liquid is drawn from the earths core . The earth and man are but liquid and bone .

b4k9zp

as always, you are wrong. man is made in the image of God and is spirit, soul and body.

NoMasters

prove it

b4k9zp

The evidence is in front of you every single day of the week, every week of the year, everywhere you look.